Sitting here the eve before a brand new decade at my desk, and I’m thinking about how much has happened over the past 10 years. If you donated and received our 2020 Calendar you’ll have a lovely look back at highlights from our last 10 years of panda work! (If you still want to donate $25 or more, I have more calendars!)

While we were still very much active in 2019 – check out our Year End Report – I’m excited to welcome 2020 and get back on the ground working in person with the pandas rather than analyzing data (necessary but not nearly as endearing or fun)! This year has been a struggle, getting out papers always is, so I’m looking forward to a fresh, new year!

I have so many new changes to update you on here at PDXWildlife! First and foremost – we’re saying goodbye to Nathan Wintle as Deputy Director of PDXWildlife. Nathan will be moving on to a different career and we wish him the best in his future life and endeavors. Goodbye!!

Second, our new board members, Lauran Hunter, Laura Harris, and Katelin Van Raden will be starting their duties in the New Year. We’ll be posting biographies of each weekly to introduce you. Many of you may recognize two of our new board members as past interns! Now may be a good time to get nostalgic and look back through our blog, search their names, and reacquaint yourselves.

And last, but certainly not least! We’ll be restarting our research at the CCRCGP in Gengda February 22nd. I’ll be introducing you to our two new winter interns in the upcoming months who will be staying through May. They will be working on continuing our reintroduction research and also pilot studies for NEW research. I’ll share those details with you as well but you’ll just have to keep following us to see what’s coming . . . but you can get a sneak peak in our 2019 Annual Report!

I hope you’re just as excited to come along on this journey with us – Happy New Years!

Meghan Martin is the Director and Primary Research Scientist of PDXWildlife. She is a postdoctoral researcher for San Diego Zoo Global and focuses on optimizing breeding success in conservation breeding programs.